


I Wanted To Pretend I Could Actually Have You

by katling



Series: Stormpilot Week 2017 [9]
Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Fake/Pretend Relationship, M/M, Mutual Pining, Pining, sleepy poe is adorable
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-02
Updated: 2017-07-02
Packaged: 2018-11-22 06:35:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,712
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11374599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katling/pseuds/katling
Summary: This was the worst idea Finn had ever had. Because while Poe might not be the best flatmate, he was the perfect fake boyfriend.Written for Stormpilot Week over on tumblr for the theme: Day 2 -  Fake married/Fake dating





	I Wanted To Pretend I Could Actually Have You

Finn stared at the email currently open on his computer with a growing sense of horror. Rey had been his best friend and surrogate sister since they’d ended up in the same foster home at the age of thirteen. They’d stood up for each other all the way through high school and when they’d gone on to their respective universities, they’d promised to keep in touch and had emailed or texted each other practically every day. That had continued after they’d graduated and gotten jobs on opposite sides of the country. 

He loved Rey dearly and she was the best thing that had ever happened to him but he’d be the first to admit that she could drive him up the wall sometimes. And if he told her that, she’d be the first to laugh and tell him he was right. He’d always appreciated her concern but sometimes her efforts to meddle had not exactly ended well.

Though he couldn’t really blame her for this one. He’d gotten annoyed with her constant questions about his mostly non-existent love life and told her he was seeing someone. When she subsequently bombarded him with questions, he’d looked around in desperation and his gaze had settled on his flatmate.

Poe Dameron was not the perfect flatmate but Finn had never expected him to be. They worked together and when they’d both ended up looking for a place at the same time, Snap had been the one to suggest they could share costs and move in together. Finn had agreed without much thought and that, he supposed, had been his downfall. If he’d thought about it just a bit more, he might not be in the position he was now.

He’d been nursing a small but manageable crush on Poe since they’d first met on Finn’s first day but though they worked in the same department, Poe was further up the career tree than Finn was so they didn’t work together much. That had helped keep his crush to manageable proportions and he’d been fine with that. Then they had moved in together and Finn’s crush had gone from manageable to completely out of control.

Poe was _not_ a morning person by any stretch of the imagination, while Finn definitely was. But he loved watching Poe, all rumpled and disgruntled first thing in the morning as he tried and failed to be a functional adult before he’d inhaled his first cup of coffee. Poe had a dog, a little corgi called BB-8, who was the most opinionated and wilful dog Finn had ever encountered. He’d have gotten frustrated ages ago but watching Poe dote on the dog was one of the most singularly adorable things Finn had ever seen in his _life_. 

Finn had found himself looking fondly at _everything_ Poe did and when he realised what he was doing, he’d wanted to bang his head against the wall. He was completely and utterly, head over heels in love with the man but if Poe’s behaviour was anything to go by, he only saw Finn as a friend. He certainly treated Finn no differently than he did Jess or Snap, his other friends at work. It made Finn want to scream or pull his hair out. He’d even thought about moving out for the sake of his sanity but then Poe would smile sleepily at him and he knew he wasn’t going anywhere.

So when Rey had pestered him about his new boyfriend, he’d ended up telling her all about Poe, though he’d been careful to never actually mention him by name. It had seemed perfectly safe. She was on the other side of the country and her job meant that usually he travelled to see her. She’d never know Finn was pining very ungracefully.

Except now she would. Because she was coming here. She had a conference in town and she wanted to catch up with him… and his mysterious but adorable boyfriend. Finn knew Rey far too well. Unless he could get Poe out of the entire damn _city_ , perhaps even the _country_ , while she was here, there was no way of avoiding the whole mess falling apart.

A hand was waved in front of his eyes and he jerked backwards in his chair. He whipped his head around to find Poe standing next to his desk with a look of amusement on his face.

“Hey, Finn. What’s wrong?”

“Uh, nothing,” Finn said hurriedly. “There is nothing wrong. Absolutely nothing. Why would there be something wrong?”

Poe’s eyebrows went up and he headed into the kitchen. “Because you looked stricken.”

“Stricken? Who uses the word stricken these days?”

“Me,” Poe said with a quick grin. “So?”

Finn looked down at the email again. “It’s nothing. Really.”

BB-8 trundled into the kitchen and ran in circles around Poe’s ankles until he leaned down and patted her. She sighed in satisfaction and flopped down on his feet.

“Right,” Poe said dryly once he’d appeased his dog. “That’s why you look like the doom of all men is looming down upon you.”

“It kind of is,” Finn said thoughtfully before he could think better of it.

Poe laughed. “Okay, now you _have_ to tell me.”

Finn hesitated. “Um, actually… can I ask you for a favour?”

“Sure,” Poe said easily. “What do you need?”

Finn swallowed hard. “Would you… I mean, could you… that is, I need…” He sighed and buried his face in his hands with a low pained groan.

Poe extracted his feet from under his dog, much to her obvious disapproval. He came over and patted Finn on the shoulder. “Come on, it can’t be that bad.”

Finn didn’t raise his head. “Fine. Would you pretend to be my boyfriend while my friend is in town?”

Silence greeted his question and when it continued, he slowly raised his head and looked up at Poe. The older man was staring at him as though he wasn’t sure if Finn was joking or not.

“Um, what?” Poe finally said.

“Rey… I’ve told you about Rey, right?” Finn began.

Poe nodded with a snort of amusement. “Many times.”

“Right. Well. She’s going to be in town and I… may have told her I have a boyfriend so she’d stop pestering me about my love life or lack thereof.” Finn scrubbed his face with one hand, feeling more weary than anything else right now. “Now she’s going to be here and she’s going to want to meet my fictional boyfriend and if I don’t have one…” He shuddered. “It’ll be horrible.”

“So you want me to pretend to be your fictional boyfriend?”

Finn nodded and started babbling. “Um, I mean, you don’t have to if it’ll be weird. It’ll be weird, won’t it? Oh god, what is _wrong_ with me?”

“Okay,” Poe said with a shrug, derailing his increasingly panicked reaction.

Finn stared at him for a moment. “What?”

“I’ll do it,” Poe replied.

“Are you sure?”

Poe shrugged and grinned. “Sure. I mean, how bad can it be?”

Finn stared at Poe and that stupid gorgeous grin of his and realised what pretending to be boyfriends was going to mean. Oh, it was going to be so very, very bad.

*****

It wasn’t bad, it was _horrible_. It was awful. It was the worst idea Finn had _ever_ had. Poe might not be the world’s best flatmate but he was the perfect fake boyfriend.

Rey had asked whether she could stay with them in order to save on costs and Finn hadn’t thought anything of it when Poe agreed. But then he’d realised that meant that they would have to share a bedroom… and a bed. The day before Rey had arrived they’d moved enough of Finn’s things into Poe’s bedroom to make it believable but it was only after Rey had crashed the first night after she arrived that Finn had to face the enormity of what he’d agreed to. 

He had to sleep with Poe. Or he had to sleep in the same bed as Poe. Poe, whom he was madly in love with. Whom he had jerked off to fantasies involving enough times that it was embarrassing to even think about it. Who looked utterly adorable and entirely kissable when he was tired and sleepy in the morning and having to lie next to him a bed was going to kill Finn. It really was.

He lay in the bed on his back, stiff and unable to sleep. Beside him, Poe lay on his side, facing him, fast asleep and looking _adorable_. His curly hair was all askew and Finn desperately wanted to run his hand through it. He wanted to lean in and kiss Poe’s forehead. Maybe wake him up and kiss his lips. And maybe kiss some other places while he was at it.

Finn groaned and crawled out of bed as quietly as he could. He made his way out into the kitchen, glancing at the half-closed door to what was normally his bedroom. Rey was fast asleep as well with BB-8 sprawled over her legs. The little corgi had taken an immediate liking to Rey, which Poe had laughed at and thought was hilarious. Finn had been a little disgruntled since it had taken a few weeks before BB-8 had warmed up to him. His mood had eased when he’d seen how happy Rey looked as she cuddled the little corgi. She’d always wanted a dog but their foster parents hadn’t liked the idea and Rey’s current apartment didn’t allow pets.

He slouched out the kitchen and poured himself a glass of water. As he stood at the sink and drank his water, he heard footsteps behind him and then there was a warm body leaning against his back and a face pressed into the back of his shoulder.

“Why’r’you awake?” Poe slurred and Finn closed his eyes, feeling something almost like despair at the intimacy in Poe’s stance. He wanted this to be _real_ , dammit! Was that really too much to ask?

“Couldn’t sleep,” he said and then winced at the sound of his own voice. The weary despondency was blatantly obvious.

“Hmmm,” Poe murmured, his arms coming up and around Finn’s chest. 

Finn turned around and then sucked in a breath when Poe just used that as an opportunity to snuggle closer.

“Poe,” he began, his voice hoarse and pained.

“Hmmm?” Poe said, nuzzling against his neck. He still looked and sounded more asleep than awake.

Finn drew in a breath and set the glass aside. “You don’t have to… Rey’s asleep…”

Poe hummed sleepily again and then Finn felt Poe’s lips against his neck. He shivered and gasped and Poe seemed to take that as encouragement. With a series of little drowsy, contented noises, he dragged his lips up Finn’s neck and along his jaw line and Finn felt himself getting hard.

Finn made a small noise then he swallowed. “ _Poe_ ,” he pleaded. “What… what are you doing?”

Poe abruptly stopped and Finn did not whimper. He really did not. He cursed himself for making Poe stop but then immediately wanted to know what the hell was going on. If Poe was teasing… 

“Shit,” Poe said, sounding a lot less sleepy and a whole lot more awake. He started to pull away. “Fuck. I’m sorry, Finn.”

Finn swallowed around the lump that was forming in his throat. “For what?” he croaked before he could think better of it.

Poe stilled, as though that wasn’t the question he’d been expecting. He wasn’t slumped comfortably against Finn anymore but he hadn’t had a chance to move back too far either. For a moment Finn wasn’t sure if he was going to say anything.

“For thinking this was real,” Poe finally whispered.

Finn felt like he’d been punched in the chest. “What?”

Poe raised his head and Finn saw the uncertainty, the worry, the fear lurking in his eyes. “I…” He licked his lips and seemed unable to go on.

“Poe?” Finn said carefully. “Why did you agree to be my fake boyfriend?”

Poe looked down. “Because… I wanted to pretend I could actually have you,” he said with the air of a man going to his own execution.

Finn could only stare at him for a moment then he started laughing. Poe looked at him with an offended expression and started to pull away properly. Finn wrapped his arms around Poe’s waist and pulled him back tight against him.

“We’re both idiots,” he said cheerfully.

Poe frowned at him. “What?”

“The fake boyfriend I told Rey about for months?” Finn said, still grinning. “It was _you_. I mean, I never told her your name but everything else was you.” His grin softened into a fond smile. “Because I wanted to pretend I could actually have _you_.”

“That was my line,” Poe said weakly. He looked like he was trying to understand what was going on. 

“It was a good line so I stole it,” Finn said with a grin and a laugh.

Poe still looked bewildered. “You… you _like_ me?”

Finn snorted with laughter. “Poe… I’m in _love_ with you. I’ve been in love with you for months. I didn’t think I was actually being that subtle, though Force knows I was trying to hide it so I didn’t make things awkward.”

“Oh,” Poe said. “I… thought I was reading too much into it. Seeing things that weren’t there, that I just wanted to be there.”

“We are both definitely idiots,” Finn said happily.

Finally Poe started to laugh as well and he let his forehead thump down onto Finn’s shoulder. “Yeah, I guess we are,” he said, his voice a little muffled. He raised his head. “I want… can I...?”

“ _Yeah_ ,” Finn breathed. He didn’t know precisely what Poe was asking for but he was pretty sure that whatever it was, he wanted it.

A second later, Poe was pressed up against him once more, only this time, he was kissing him properly. Finn made a low sound of want and pulled Poe even tighter against him as he kissed back. This was as good as he’d imagined… in fact, it was _better_ than he’d imagined because it was real and Poe was warm and here in his arms, squirming against him in a way that very quickly had Finn hard and panting into Poe’s mouth. He’d have been embarrassed but Poe was in very much the same state.

“Gah! My eyes!”

They jerked apart, though not very far, at the amused screech from Rey. She was standing in the doorway of the kitchen, looking at them with exasperated amusement.

“Really?” she said in a teasing tone. “You two have been together for, like, nearly a _year_ and you’re still kissing like it’s the first time. Ugh! Get a room.”

Finn looked at Poe who grinned back at him. “I don’t know,” Poe said with a shrug. “I like her suggestion.”

Finn laughed and tightened his grip around Poe’s waist before hoisting him up. Poe laughed and wrapped his legs around Finn’s waist.

“Ugh,” Rey said, waving them away with a fond smile. “Get out of here, you two. You’re disgustingly in love. I hate you both.”

“No, you don’t,” Finn said smugly as he carried Poe out of the kitchen.

“No, I don’t,” Rey conceded. “You two are adorable.”

Poe laughed as Finn shut the bedroom door behind them with a shove of his hips. “So,” he said, cradling Finn’s head with his hands. He didn’t seem at all inclined to move from where he was. “Are we ever going to tell her the truth?”

“No,” Finn said firmly. He walked over to the bed and lowered Poe into it, following him down immediately. Poe’s smile was addictive and he leaned down and kissed him. 

When they finally parted, Poe’s eyes were wide and dark and his smile was full of lust. “We do kind of owe her our thanks.”

“Uhuh,” Finn said absently as he stared at Poe’s kiss-swollen lips. 

Poe laughed and pulled Finn down on top of him. After that, there was no more talking, though Finn did take a moment to concede Poe was right. He sure as hell did owe Rey a lot.


End file.
